Person Centred Counselling and the Core Conditions

Person Centred Counselling and the Core Conditions The three main core conditions that Carl Rogers considered essential for effective counselling are: 1.

Unconditional Positive Regard (UPR)

2.

Empathy

3.

Congruence

However in Roger's paper "The necessary and sufficient conditions of Therapeutic personality change" he lists six conditions in total.

1.

Two persons are in Psychological contact.

2.

The first, whom we shall term the client, is in a state of incongruence, being vulnerable or anxious.

3.

The second person, whom we shall term the therapist is congruence or integrated in the relationship.

4.

The therapist experiences unconditional positive regard for the client.

5.

The therapist experiences an empathic understanding of the clients internal frame of reference and endeavours to communicate this experience to the client.

6.

The communication to the client of the therapist's empathic understanding and unconditional positive regard is to a minimal degree achieved.

No other conditions are necessary . If these six conditions exist and continue over a period of time, this is sufficient...(Rogers Reader p221)

Unconditional Positive Regard, Empathy & Congruence are the counsellors or therapists conditions needed to facilitate change. Without these conditions being present a healing relationship cannot form. In the six conditions above we see that the client also has to 'play ball', Psychological contact is needed. If the client does not want to be there they are free to withdraw and the counselling processes cannot continue. The client too it seems needs to realise that there is something not working for them in their lives.

So what are these conditions? Roger's three core conditions for therapeutic change as explained by the good man himself: "The first element could be called genuineness, realness, or congruence. The more the therapist is himself or herself in the relationship, putting up no professional front or personal facade, the greater is the likelihood that the client will change and grow in a constructive manner. This means that the therapist is openly being the feelings and attitudes that are flowing within at the moment. Thus, there is a close matching, or congruence, between what is being experienced at the gut level, what is present in awareness, and what is expressed to the client.

The second attitude of importance in creating a climate for change is acceptance, or caring, or prizing--what I have called 'unconditional positive regard.' When the therapist is experiencing a positive, acceptant attitude toward whatever the client is at that moment, therapeutic movement or change is more likely to occur. The therapist is willing for the client to be whatever immediate feeling is going on--confusion, resentment, fear, anger, courage, love, or pride. Such caring on the part of the therapist is non-possessive. The therapist prizes the client in a total rather than a conditional way.

The third facilitative aspect of the relationship is empathic understanding. This means that the therapist senses accurately the feelings and personal meanings that the client is experiencing and communicates this understanding to the client. When functioning best, the therapist is so much inside the private world of the other that he or she can clarify not only the meanings of which the client is aware but even those just below the level of awareness. This kind of sensitive, active listening is exceedingly rare in our lives. We think we listen, but very rarely do we listen with real understanding, true empathy. Yet listening, of this very special kind, is one of the most potent forces for change that I know."

(Rodgers, 1980) There is a lot packed in to the above descriptions, at a glance it does not seem much but upon examining them closely the basic framework of Rogers counselling work is described. http://hubpages.com/education/The-core-conditions-which-Carl-Rogers-considered-essential-for-effec tive-counselling